1. Field of the Invention
The subject of the invention is a case with a slide closure, in particular, a case for holding drills or other elongate tools.
Insofar as the present description of the invention mentions a “drill case”, this is not to be understood as a restriction. The invention relates to a slide closure for all cases suitable for holding elongate objects and having one or a plurality of holding parts for this type of elongate objects, wherein upon opening of the lid the case is automatically pivoted upwards to offer the objects for removal.
When the later description of the exemplary embodiments calls the elongate objects “drills”, this is not to be understood as a restriction. The invention thus relates to all elongate objects suitable to be kept in a case of this type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A problem with the cases of the prior art lies in the fact that cases of this type are also sold filled with tools and similar items. If a ready-filled case is displayed on the wall of a display room, the risk is incurred that the case may be opened and the content may be completely or partially removed without authorization. A later purchaser of the case generally will not check the content of the case and will find out later that the content is missing or incomplete.
For this reason, the practice is known to the art of attaching a warranty sticker on the closure between the lid and the housing shell of so-called tin cases, in order to control unauthorized opening of the case. Warranty stickers of this type, however, are not reliable, since they are easy to imitate, and the attachment of a warranty sticker increases the cost of the manufacture of this kind of a case.
Based on the subject of the patent application EP 0 658 486 A1, a safety device against unauthorized opening of a case has become known to the art. The said safety device comprises a block manufactured of synthetic materials and pivotably attached to a film hinge which block can be pivoted into the pivoting path of the catch for the closure between lid and housing shell.
When in the safety position, the safety block thus comes to rest against the rear side of the latch and prevents the opening thereof.
If opening is to be permitted, the plastic block has to be detached from the film hinge, whereafter it is released and no longer blocks the opening path of the latch.
However, the attachment of this kind of a plastic block connected to the lid via a film hinge entails increased manufacturing cost.
Furthermore, the removal of the said safety device is only associated with higher cost and complication, because the plastic block is hidden underneath the edge of an opening in a way to be practically unreachable and the film hinge to be removed can only be destroyed with costly tools.
The invention therefore relates to the object of refining a safety device of a case with lid and housing shell of the type described above in such a way that it is simpler to manufacture as well as safer and simpler to operate.
The stated object is achieved according to the invention as characterized by the enabling disclosure.
Advantageous refinements of the subject of the invention are the subject of the subclaims.
From the given enabling disclosure, the substantial advantage arises that a safety nub is disposed within the slide path of a slide closure by being sprayed immediately onto the material of the housing shell.
The manufacture of the said safety nub therefore is particularly simple and cost-effective because the manufacture of costly film hinges is not needed.
Due to the arrangement of the said safety nub in the slide path of the slide closure, a further advantage arises in the fact that the safety nub is well detectable from the outside so that the said safety nub has the effect of a warranty closure.
This was not the case in the prior art. It was not possible to detect from the outside whether the warranty closure (in the form of the plastic block) was still engaged with the closure lever or whether it had already been removed.
A further advantage of the measure according to the invention lies in the fact that the safety nub now can preferably only be removed with a tool. Manual removal is practically not possible, because the single-material injection molded bonding between the safety nub and the material of the housing shell provides a connection of such firmness that it cannot be dissolved with the bare hand.
Of course, the present invention is not limited to the arrangement of the safety nub on the housing shell. The kinematic reversal is also claimed wherein the safety nub is disposed on the slide closure and acts against a stop disposed in the slide path of the slide closure on the housing shell.
Here again, the safety nub has to first be removed from the slide closure with a tool, in order to move the slide closure into its open position.